Cambodian government has submitted a list of 16 captive-bred crocodile farms to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), seeking to pave a way for the legal exports of crocodile skins to lucrative overseas markets, according to deputy director of the Fisheries Conservation Department at the Ministry of Agriculture. Cambodia has about 700 crocodile farms with over 20,000 adult Siamese crocodiles and 300,000 hatchlings, recent estimates show, with captive-breeding operations concentrated in Siem Reap, Battambang, Kampong Thom and Kampong Chhnang provinces. Teetering on extinction, the Siamese crocodile is listed as a critically endangered species on CITES Appendix I, which bans commercial export of the crocodile or its products except under special circumstances. In 1999, CITES issued licenses to five crocodile farms in Cambodia for limited exports of captive-bred Siamese crocodiles, and on the condition that no wild crocodiles were used to replenish their stock. (Source: Phnom Penh Post)